Holiday Favorites

Holiday Favorites

This week, my students and I are in “singalong” mode, as we get ready for the holiday singalong on Friday afternoon (see this blog post with more information about putting together a singalong.) I thought I’d share some of my favorite activities and books for my winter holiday lessons.·         “Feliz Navidad” book by Jose Feliciano and David Diaz: This is a...

When oh when is the holiday coming?

When oh when is the holiday coming?

There are many teachers out there who absolutely love to integrate the seasons and holidays into their lesson plans. I must confess, I’m not exactly one of them. While I love the change of the seasons, and I love the holidays, I don’t usually do that many songs and activities that are dependent upon the time of the year. Part of this has to do with curriculum—depending on whether I had the students...

Agenda for music lessons

Agenda for music lessons

Throughout my career, I've been on the board of several different music education organizations. Each board meeting is a great chance to see old friends, and help guide the future of the organization. At each board meeting, we receive an agenda of the items we will be discussing. During the meeting, I find myself looking occasionally at the agenda—seeing where we’ve been and what we still have left...

The musical alphabet and treble clef

The musical alphabet and treble clef

Recently I had a colleague ask me how I practiced the musical alphabet and the treble clef with my students. I typed up some activities for her and thought I'd go ahead and post it to my blog.First, here are some activities for helping students to get more comfortable with the musical alphabet (a special thank you to Joan Litman for many of these ideas!)Up and down the alphabet: Have the notes...

Ghost Melodies

Ghost Melodies

I'm always looking for ways to include vocal exploration in my lessons--especially with my younger students. Vocal exploration is a great way to help students find their head voices. One of my favorite vocal exploration activities is ghost melodies. For this, you can draw a ghost on the board, and then draw the sound the ghost makes, by drawing a small hill and a big hill, loops, or whatever you'd...

Guest Blog: How to write a song for a group

Guest Blog: How to write a song for a group

Today I welcome Julia Amisano, Founder of Grace Music Studio NY (www.gracemusicstudiony.com), as our guest blogger. Thank you Julia for your insight into writing songs!About Grace Music Studio NY:Grace Music Studio NY is a place where people come to take Brooklyn voice lessons, Brooklyn piano lessons and Brooklyn acting lessons, but also they come to be inspired. Every year, Brooklyn voice lesson...

Exploration, to Improvisation, to Composition

Exploration, to Improvisation, to Composition

This year, I took the position of elementary music co-chair in my district. After our first meeting, I sent out a survey, asking teachers to list their needs for professional development. A vast majority of the teachers—including me--wanted more information about improvisation. Knowing that improvisation is a bit focus in the Orff philosophy, I then approached three Orff specialists in our district...

A Beginner's Guide To Elementary General Music

A Beginner's Guide To Elementary General Music

For the last four weeks, I have had a student teacher in my classroom. She is the third student teacher I've had, and the experience always reminds me of those little things that have just become second nature to me after years of teaching. My current student teacher isn't new to music education--her mom is also a elementary music teacher--but some of these discoveries have still been surprising,...

Learning Centers in the Kodaly-inspired Classroom

Learning Centers in the Kodaly-inspired Classroom

This year, as I evaluated the learning environment I had created for my students, I realized that as interactive and full of learning my class was, it was not very student-centered. Many of my activities were set up with me as the teacher in front of the class, and my students giving the answers, which I deemed as right or wrong. Not to say that there was no creative input from my students, but I...

Improvisation Ideas for the Music Classroom

Improvisation Ideas for the Music Classroom

As a musician in jazz band all throughout high school and jazz band, I struggled with improvisation. As a teacher, I always jump at the chance to hone improvisational skills with my students. When I received a Martha Holden Jennings grant in 2004, entitled "Musical Creativity, Improvisation, and Composition," I searched for literature and methods to achieve improvement in those areas. I've found that...